Is Beyonce betraying her roots/heritage by having blonde hair etc?

[MissyKLo]

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has written an interesting article about Beyonce and the 'impact' her 'look' has on impressionable youngsters.

I am not white myself and would be interested to see what people think about Beyonce's look... is she trying to look more 'European'? Is Yasmin right when she says that:

black celebrities appear to deny their heritage by trying to make themselves look white, I despair for the youngsters who see those images

and she also says:

The answer is that every woman of colour has an important social and cultural history that cannot simply be bleached away or denied by the use of hair straighteners. That?s why I passionately believe that Beyonce?s ignorance of how this betrays her heritage is so insidiously damaging to all peoples of colour

I do think that people should always wear and be however they want to be, but I can't help but feel that Yasmin has made some good points here, especially about young women of colour having strong role models of colour - I embrace my skin colour and would never dye my dark hair blonde because that is my taste, but is there more to Beyonce's new look? Is she betraying her heritage?

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1358119/Beyonce-Knowles-Why-I-believe-betraying-black-Asian-Women.html

Its by Toni Morrison:

"Ideas of beauty, particularly those that relate to racial characteristics, are a major theme in this book. The title refers to Pecola's wish that her eyes would turn blue. Claudia is given a white baby doll to play with and is constantly told how lovely it is. Insults to physical appearance are often given in racial terms; a light-skinned student named Maureen is shown favoritism at school. There is a contrast between the world shown in the cinema and the one in which Pauline is a servant, as well as the WASP society and the existence the main characters live in."

Strange, isn't it? I remember a black colleague of mine who was married to a lighter-skinned black man telling me that when their son was born her MIL used to pinch the baby's nose for extended periods "to try and make it less African" (her words not mine). Same MIL also tried to encourage the baby to drink cow's milk as this "would make his skin paler."

I was completely horrified - why would you do that to a beautiful baby?! I'm not saying she wanted him to be white - just paler?!

Well no I dont think Beyonce is betraying her roots at all by dying her hair. People all the time dye their hair different colours because they want to look different and have a change. As you know I am Mediterranian heritage, and have dark hair and eyes, and a big moustace to boot , would I be betraying it dyed my hair blond and got blue contact lenses, which I am really tempted too. The bleaching of skin is a bit though, but white people change the colour of their skin through spray tans, sun beds so whats the difference?

It's not my opinion that she is piglet! Not at all! I hope people realise that I am referring to the article and I think of course she should dye her hair whatever colour she likes! I think the article is interesting for a thread and wanted to see what people thought - especially black women.

I always believe people should wear and have their hair/bodies etc how they want

There is a difference with bleaching skin and White women tanning - a big big difference in my opinion

She like everyone is an individual in their own right so can do what they want with their looks, she is experessing herself and her identity. In that case we are all betraying our racial heritage by dying our hair a different colour, tanning our skins or bleaching them.

And with piglatmania's last sentence, I now resolve to stay away from this thread entirely.

Perhaps soneone more patient than I will explain the difference.

She looks as pale as me and I am a natural redhead.

She can have her hair how she wants but the drastic change in her skin makes me think she is conforming to a racist ideal of what is beautiful. The sad thing is her glowing brown skin tone was gorgeous. No need for the skin bleaching at all.

Yes it is a very interesting article MissyK and I do agree that there is a blond, blue eyed ideal, well I certainly felt it when I was younger, I have dark Mediterranean type features, and wanted to be blond haired and blue eyed as a child, and used to draw people with blond hair and blue eyes

Well charitygirl in both cases it involves changing the colour of their skins, so its acceptable for a white person to change their skin colour, but not a darker person. It is a dangerous process to whiten skin though.

I've just been googling pictures of her and she has looked lighter and darker over the years.

In one picture from 2007 she looks almost as pale as she does in the OPs picture. Either this is a natural fluctuation in colour or she has been lightening her skin on and off for at least 4 years.

I think making a mountain out of a mole hill here,

when I dye my hair black & tan am i betraying my race?? IDTS

I seriously doubt any teen is gonna be silly enough to say, oh beyonce is blonde therefore I must be?

Articles like this seem to credit 'impressionable youngsters' with little intellignce

SIIO just my opinion

People just like to be offended, its a reasonable question, we are all taking part in discussion which involves looking at the subject from different perspectives, does it not?

It's well within her rights as a human to do what she wants with her body...it's just quite sad and strange to want to change your skin colour using chemicals that can damage your body...as a black woman I cannot understand it..but then I don't have the same pressure she does...

I suppose if you think about it the same can be said for women who constantly use tanning machines knowing the potencial for it's cancerous affects on white/pale skin.

To the OP

It's only her hair, I dye mine red is that an insult to my Jewish and Dutch ancestors?.

Is she 100% black anyway? or does she have European blood in her, she sure looks like she does and since when did a pure bread Afro/Caribbean woman get anyway in the entertainment industry?.

how many a black rather then slightly tanned?,
how many afros instead of straight hair?.

bitching about someone dyeing there hair is belittling the point, it shouldn't be an argument about betraying roots, there needs to be an argument about the entertainment industries view of beauty and how that view does not include black woman who are not half cast in apperance.

I agree mumcentreplus totally with you. I do agree that with skin bleaching and skin tanning both are dangerous to the skin and why would people want to do that.

i feel let down by women who opt for surgery to look younger, etc., raising the bar for what is considered normal ageing, but i get my hair highlighted and use wrinkle creams so i'm engaging in the madness too.

ultimately it's an individual choice and who's to say what is acceptable or not in setting examples for others?

both lightening and darkening skin is dangerous, in any case.

I'll say this again. Beyonce is BlACK light skinned woman. If she was bleaching the colour would not be uniform. Black women tan fgs. She has a pale skinned BLACK mother and a darker skinned BLACK father.
You will find that many black people get lighter in the winter and darker in the summer. I have seen pictures of Beyonce and her husband in St Tropez etc and she is always sunbathing fgs.

his is not about betraying your race..or a hair-do this is about conforming to the ideals of beauty that exist only on t.v screens and in magazines (air brushed and filtered, nip & tucked) ...I think it is polarized in non-white women so they have even further to go to become this ideal..

most of the black or asian people you see in Hollywood have nose jobs,but they also may have to change their eye shape,lighten their skins,get some lipo etc etc

The white people have to do it too mind you..

I think what makes it cut deeper is that black/asian people actually change fundamental features of their race and thats what makes people question what they do in a more vigorous way.

But everyone is suffering in this imo..

wouldn't it be cool to accept and love who you are and appreciate the things that bind and separate us as people.

Many black people with lighter tones are a product of white heritage somewhere down the line, if unknown then during the enslavement of blacks land owners would impregnate many women in order to dilute the 'blackness' (if I remember correctly, I could be wrong). So some black people do have lighter skin and more 'European' features. As for Beyonce I assume she was mixed race and so something could be said for how much of her roots she has erased, but Rihanna is all black, and just as big. Her commitment to her big bottom is fantastic and I'm sure black girls all over the world think of Beyonce as black and a great role model.

I do not think B is bleaching her skin and her hair is long, in order to have it long I guess it has to be a little straight.

The white man getting a perm and tanning has nothing to do with wanting to be black or feeling the need to get darker to be accepted by black people, but the other way round I think it has to be something like that,. Afterall most Black women championed as gorgeous don't look like pure African women...(championed not actually, many beautiful woman all over Africa).Not sure I've ever seen black supermodels with a full on fro....but there is a very 'African' l
looking model, but only one I can think of, nope two Alek Wek and Iman.

Mumcentreplus, you are correct, it is more about the so called 'ideal' beauty. White women as well as black women suffer from having to live up to an ideal.
IMO, i find that black women in general have a better self esteem than white women.

Interesting views! Again I will say it's not that I personally agree with Yasmin at all as I believe people should dress how they want and do what they want to their hair etc but I do think the article raised some interesting points and reading peoples views - especially views from black women has been interesting

I never do things to my appearance with my racial heritage in my mind but it's interesting that some people may do etc

forehead.....there's a lot of women in the world...I find it hard to believe that black women facing femiside and Jamaican women that are subjected to the most awful sexism have a higher self esteem than Dutch women...

Strange thing to say.

I don't live in Jamaica or Holland, however, i do have friends of various nationalities and the black friends that i do have tend to obsess less about their weight and believe that they are beautiful despite not conforming to the stereotype.
You may think that this is a strange thing to say , but a lot of the black women i know believe this to be true and therefore cannot understand why black women are often portrayed as victims.

Perhaps some you know don't try to conform because there's noone to conform to, but self esteem is more than loving big thighs.....it's also about how we are treated by our partners.

Perhaps if you stick to British women, it's a more true comparison. I have a white friend from Zimbabwe and her self esteem is through the roof.